Newspaper and Soccer Games
by madasarabbit
Summary: Brennan considers a new take on life. This was at one point written for my old Dictionary Antics series, but I scrapped it and pulled this one out for some retouching. R&R please!


Quick note: if you recognize this, it's because I had it in a small series of oneshots called Dictionary Antics that I quickly discontinued. Here is a newer version of one of the first fanfics I've written for Bones, please read and review.

Disclaimer: I am not the owner of any element of Bones.

* * *

"Ugh," Dr. Temperance Brennan muttered under her breath. "Not again."

She was looking over her morning paper, and, sure enough, a photo of her and Booth at the crime scene of a badly decomposed corpse found in the walls of a yoga studio the night before. Above the fold.

Generally speaking, Brennan never liked being in the media much. Of course, there were exceptions to this, like when her books were being promoted, or when her team was the subject of a feature article, but besides things of that ilk, having a headline and a giant color photo in a were never desired on her part. At least she shared the spotlight with Booth this time. Temperance studied the photo. Neither of them looked awful, but her eyebrows were crinkled in concentration, and Booth looked awkward, doing something with his arms. Probably telling someone to secure the area. _Typical. _

Being the news junkie that she was, Brennan pored over the article. Though it started out informative enough _(Tuesday night at four p.m., a dead body was found a mile east of the capitol building...)_, it began going downhill (_The seemingly omnipresent law enforcement team of Doctor Temperance Brennan and her partner, Seeley Booth, who both recently finished in the court trial of Brennan's father, formerly convicted bank robber and felon._) As the news peice went on, it continuing getting worse.

The piece of crap was hardly more a human interest story! And in a nationally-ranked newspaper, too! _It must be a really slow day for news._

Before Brennan could get to the phone to call the newspaper offices to inquire about some sort of a retraction, the doorbell rang.

"Bones?" It was Booth. "Can you open the door, please? My hands are kind of full."

"Be right there!" she called. The paper was dropped.

Ten seconds later, she opened up her apartment door to one annoyed-looking Booth. He was carrying two cups of (what smelled like) incredibly strong coffee, a copy of the same newspaper she had just been reading, his suit jacket over an arm, and a bottle of ketchup. "God, this day is bad. And we're only about an hour in."

She stepped aside and let him dump the jacket, paper, and Heinz bottle on her couch. "You know, I was thinking of starting with hello, but I suppose this works as well. Did you _see_ that story in the paper?" Her tone matched his- _ever _so slightly irritated.

"Yeah, Bones, I did. And as much as I am empathetic towards your hatred of being in the daily news, I have some slightly larger issus to attend to."

Brennan frowned. "I thought you didn't like snippy," she said, crossing her arms.

The look on Booth's face was priceless. He looked up from the bottle of ketchup. "What?"

"You remember- that session with Dr. Sweets? You said you didn't like snippy. That's rather hypocritical, Booth."

God, sometimes this woman was infuriating! He sighed. "Sorry Bones. I don't mean to barge in, I just didn't know where else I could go at such short notice."

She raised an eyebrow, inviting him to elaborate.

"I woke up this morning to my landlord banging on my door, asking why my car was still in the parking lot. When I got up to answer the door, I found out that the building was scheduled to be _tented_ for-"

"Termites and other wood-dwelling pests, yes, I understand the concept."

"Right. anyway, I had to get out _right then. _So I got dressed really fast," he continues, indicating to his suit, "- didn't even have time for breakfast. I was just out the door when my phone rings. Naturally, I pick it up, and guess who it is...Parker. He wanted to check to make sure I hadn't forgotten about volunteering to be the 'burger man' for his soccer game this afternoon, which, as it turns out, is two hours away! And the landlord's getting really very pissed off at me for taking so long, so I tell Park I'll be there and bye and here I am."

"Here you are," Brennan said. She sighed now too. "Well, how are you going to get off work?"

"Sick day," Booth said. "I am so sorry, Bones, that I barged in like this, I swear I didn't mean-"

She help up a hand to cut him off. "It's no problem. Look, do you want some breakfast?"

Twenty minutes later, both had a bowl of cereal and a cup of hot coffee, and here in infinitely better moods. Bones had let go of the newspaper thing, and Booth apologised for being 'snippy," as she had so eloquently quoted him earlier. "I'm just gonna get changed, then I'll get out of your hair, okay?" He grabbed what she had earlier thought was a suit jacket- really it was a bundle of clothes to change into (T-shirt, jeans, converse sneakers, COCKY belt buckle, and a 'Go Bears!' team soccer cap.).

"Hey, take as long as you want. I don't need to be in the lab for another hour, and even there I don't have anything pressing." _Did I actually say that? I always want to go into the lab early. That's strange. _

Booth started to hear towards her bathroom, when he turned around, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh, Bones?" he said, sounding unsure.

She looked up from the dishwasher. "Yes?"

"Um. Well, since you said you don't have anything pressing at the lab...um...I was wondering if you wanted to go to the game with me." He said this last part very fast.

She paused.

He barreled on. "It's just that at these things, those creepy single soccer moms really start to get...well, strange. And Parker likes you. Also, I hate to drive on my own. Maybe we could go over a few case files on the way? If you want to?"

Still no answer.

He waited. The belt was starting to slide off of the pile of clothes. Bones opened her mouth, hesitating, and said, "Sure, Booth. Just let me call Cam and get ready."

--

Out of all the things Brennan had thought she would do today, going to the son of her partner's soccer game was not one of them. And even if she had thought that might happen, it never would have been something that she _enjoyed._

Dubbed "Bones, the juice box helper" by the five-and-six-year-olds on Parker's soccer team, and "Seeley's_ friend_ (cough cough)) by their mothers, her day was taken up by a round trip to Parker's hometown soccer field, hanging out with some of the mothers there who didn't find her totally unapproachable ("Where did you get you purse? I love it!" "South Africa."), and diligently doling out the snacks and tailgate burgers. It was a strange experience, but one that wasn't a regret.

_Doctor Temperance Brennan...soccer mom?_


End file.
